Devotional for the Week —10 August 2009

Devotional for the week–10 August 2009

Sermon Title: Ownership vs Stewardship
Scripture Text: Luke 18:18-30; Mark 10:17-27; Matthew 19:16-30

He was rich, well respected, and young - a high-flyer by any standard. With huge assets in hand and servants to do his every bidding - what more could someone like him want? Yet, the rich young ruler in today’s reading wanted more. He wanted eternal life – so that he could enjoy all his riches forever. So it was jolt to his senses when he heard what Jesus said, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young ruler heard this, he became very sad because he was immediately faced with a dilemma, one which we face too today - ownership vs. stewardship.

The Cost of Ownership

We talk of our possessions as if we own them. We say `The car belongs to Mrs Tan’ or `That’s Alfred’s project’ or `These are my children’, but do we really own these things or do the possessions own us instead? For example, do we spend our Saturdays polishing our cars and tinkering with the engine so much, that we neglect other activities? What about our jobs? Do we spend so much time on our projects that we do not have time for anything else? What about the children? Do we spend more hours ferrying them for tuition and additional classes than we do reading God’s word?

The amount of time that we spend with our possessions shows how strongly we value them. We don’t just like these things. It is as if they defined us and gave us our identity - take away the car, eliminate the job or remove the children and what would we be living for?

For the rich young ruler, it was his wealth and position that gave him his identity. He had probably spent a great deal of time thinking of how to get more money and spend it. So when Jesus asked him to sell everything, it seemed a bad bargain. He could not imagine spending eternity without riches. What about us? Does the idea of spending eternity without our possessions seem appealing? The answer to that question would give us an idea of what we would tell Jesus if He asked us to let go of these things in exchange for eternal life.

When we see ourselves as owners, our possessions become barriers to eternal life because eternal life is not about riches and wealth. It is about having a relationship with God. The more things we claim ownership to on earth, the harder it is for us to have a relationship with God. To use Jesus’ analogy “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24)

It isn’t that having things is wrong; rather, it’s our attitude. Having much often leads us to feel self sufficient. We feel we have obtained our possessions solely through our own merits. This viewpoint blinds us to our need for God.

The Freedom of Stewardship

A story was once told of a man who had a son. One day the son met with an accident, went into a coma and was placed in an intensive care unit. The father, distraught and desperate, prayed, “God, he is my only son. Please save him!!” He then heard a voice telling him `“Whose child is he? If he is your child, you take care of the problem. Give him to me, and we’ll see what can be done!”

How dramatically the picture changes once we see ourselves not as owners, but stewards - caregivers for what has been bestowed upon us. Stewardship allows us to recognise 3 key factors about God.

•	That God is the source of our possessions. He owns the world and everything in it. God gives every thing we have –wealth, job and family – to us. We would not have had anything if He had not, in His mercy, given them to us.

•	That God can take away our possessions. Just as He gives to us, He can take away. An owner would then feel deprived and resents the loss. A steward, on the other hand, would accept the decision and continue to care for the other things in his charge. He is able to do this because he realises that the true Owner, God, has every right to do whatever He so decides.

•	That God does not want our possessions. God does not need our car, our job or our families. Yet He wants us to give these up to Him so that we may learn to rely on Him. The steward learns that when God is pleased, He will release Himself and everything He owns to us. All we need to do is obey.

When we realise that we are stewards of the things that have been given to us, we see our earthly possessions as means to fulfill God’s will. We will see that we are blessed so that we can be a blessing.

A good example of stewardship in action is tithing. Some members of a church may think that the church is ‘rich enough’ and has enough funds. `The church does not need my tithe. I will decide to give my money to others whom I deem are in need.” But should that decision be ours to make? As stewards, we realize that the `tithe belongs to the House of the Lord and it is holy to the Lord (Leviticus 27.30-33); that `the tithe is given to the Levites, who will then present it as an offering to the Lord (Numbers 18.21-24). Hence our role as stewards is to obey and tithe. The decision as to how the money will be used is God’s.

As stewards, we give as the Lord instructs, we share freely of the provisions He has placed in our care. We then become channels of blessing, allowing God to multiply the blessing as He releases more and more of Himself to the world.

Prayer Response

Lord, You have given me everything – Your time, Your attention, Your Son. You have shown how much You love me by providing for me in every way, meeting my every need. I thank You for the people and the things You have brought into my life. Help me to love the people and to tell teach them about You. Help me to be responsible with the things You have given me. Show me how I should use them to bring glory to Your kingdom. Lord, one day, when my days on earth are done, I will be called to give an account of what I have done with the possessions You have placed in my hands. I pray Lord, that on that day, you will find me a faithful steward. In Jesus’ glorious name I pray. Amen.

Devotional based on a sermon by Rev Fred Tan

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